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Super Celebs Back at the Big Game

Super Bowl LI was has been called the greatest Super Bowl game ever. While some felt the advertising didn’t live up to the drama on the field, nonetheless, the game represents the biggest day for advertising on the American calendar. And once again, celebrities were a huge component of many advertisers’ game plans.

E-Poll has tracked celebrity appearances in Super Bowl Ads for several years now. 2017 saw the trend of celebrity usage continue in full force, as 43 different celebrities made appearances for a total of 22 different advertisers.

Tracking Celebrity Super Bowl Endorsements by Year

This marked a decline from the 46 celebrities in the 2016 game, but was still the second-most recorded since 2012. This year’s cast was a particularly high-wattage bunch, with the average E-Score of 84 representing the second-highest we’ve measured.

Celebrities were at the core of the two most popular Super Bowl ads, and three of the top five, as measured by USA Today’s Ad Meter. Overall, of the 58 qualifying* ads tracked by the Ad Meter, plus three more from the overtime period, a total of 24 spots contained celebrity appearances, representing 39% of all commercials.

Celebrity Endorsements in Super Bowl LI

This year’s list is heavy on mainstream film and television stars, with fewer celebrities from the worlds of sports and music than previous years.

* As in previous years, our list includes on-screen appearances during in-game ads, but excludes pre-game/halftime performers, voice-only appearances, and celebrities appearing in ads for movies or TV shows.

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